Flipkart vs Snapdeal, Zomato vs Paytm: Meet the Angry Birds of 2016

The power struggle between Tata Sons and its ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry also spilt onto the virtual world. Here are other wars from the business realm that waged on Twitter in 2016.Satya Kandala | ET Bureau | Updated: December 30, 2016, 11:10 IST

Competition often rears its head in social media interactions. In March, Flipkart's executive chairman Sachin Bansal tweeted “Alibaba deciding to start operations directly shows how badly their Indian investments have done so far.“

This tweet was in reference to Alibaba's investment in rival Snapdeal, whose CEO Kunal Bahl was quick to fire back. Bahl said, “Didn't Morgan Stanley just flush 5bn worth market cap in Flipkart down the toilet? Focus on ur business not commentary.“ Bahl ended with a smiley, which Bansal responded to with a cheeky face sticking out its tongue.While this exchange ended amicably, there's no doubt that the race for the top slot is still on.

OLA VS UBER

Homegrown Ola and San Francisco-based Uber are fighting it out for the market share in India. In June, Ola put out a tweet announcing its merger with TaxiforSure, another Indian cab aggregator. Uber India retweeted this saying, “While they do their thing, you can enjoy uberGo rides at 7km.“ Ola wasn't amused and replied, “At 7X you mean?“ referring to Uber's surge pricing. A few weeks later, a user pointed out that Ola was following Uber's campaign model. Uber gloated, but Ola shot back with a list of Uber's emulations.

In November, a user tweeted that he ordered food from Zomato and paid via netbanking, but got a text asking him to pay using Paytm. The user asked if Zomato was trading order details. Paytm's CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma tweeted that the restaurant uses third-party order management system that sold the confirmation inventory. He reiterated that Paytm didn't buy data.

Zomato's CEO Deepinder Goyal tweeted to Sharma, saying, “Sir, if someone is ready to sell their soul, doesn't mean you should buy it.“

BURGER KING VS WENDY'S

The year began with Burger King throwing Wendy's some serious shade. Both fast food chains have sassy Twitter handles and were busy with promotions in January.Wendy's tweeted a picture of their 4 for $4 meal, calling it a “trayful of mouth-filling glory“. Hours later, Burger King tweeted a deal, “5 for $4, because 5 is better than 4.“ Fans quickly picked their corners. When one asked Wendy's with what they were firing back, the prompt reply was, “Edible food.“

T-MOBILE VS SPRINT

This is one enduring Twitter fight. T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure escalated it to personal attacks this August. Both CEOs were posting details of their unlimited plans, when Claure initiated the spat by calling the T-mobile plan a “crappy plan“. Legere responded by saying that Sprint was essentially just copy-pasting T-mobile's plans. Then Claure got personal, calling Legere a con artist. Earlier that day, Legere made fun of Sprint's advertising. Claure responded by tweeting to Legere, “You told me you would stop drinking and tweeting. Guess you broke your promise again.“.